Huddersfield's Steve Mounie says he will try and follow in his idol Didier Drogba's footsteps after dream debut

It is an indication of the pressure on Steve Mounie’s shoulders that Huddersfield Town were just the 14th highest scorers in the Championship last season. For all their organisation, spirit and frenzied pressing, goals proved hard to come by.

Mounie is the man tasked with fixing the problem. An £11.5 million signing from Montpellier, the ­Benin international arrived in West Yorkshire knowing he would be ­expected to adapt quickly to Huddersfield’s high-octane style of play and the rigours of English football.

On the evidence of 90 eye-opening minutes, he appears to have done so already. It is early days yet, but Mounie’s double against Crystal Palace suggests the 22-year-old’s broad frame might well be capable of shouldering the burden of being Huddersfield’s Terrier-in-chief.

“Now people know who I am,” he said. “I could not imagine a better start.”

Mounie celebrates with his Huddersfield team-matesCredit:
REUTERS

In truth, it was not just the goals. Mounie led the line throughout, while the only real blemish was that he could and should have scored a hat-trick. He dreams of emulating another powerful African forward who barrelled his way into the ­Premier League following a move from France.

“My idol is [Didier] Drogba,” he said. “Sometimes I just watch video clips of him, scoring goals over here. I think I have a similar style to him. I am big like him.” In a curious quirk of Premier League history that will presumably not be lost on Mounie, Drogba’s first goal for Chelsea also came against Palace at Selhurst Park. “What he did here is an inspiration to me,” Mounie said. “He is also African, like me, and we almost have the same story. He was born in Africa and came to France and then to England. I will try to follow in his footsteps.”

For now, though, he is still finding his own feet. “I am learning English and getting used to my new life over here,” he said. “The players call me Steve. An English name.”

Mounie made an impact on his debutCredit:
Getty Images

The comment prompted a laugh from David Wagner, his manager. “When someone mentioned his name to me for the first time I said OK, he’s excellent, because his first name is English,” Wagner said. “The good thing is he speaks English, so we can communicate, which is always important for a manager if you like to give him our thoughts.

“He is very open-minded, so he will ask if something is unknown for him and he is not sure what he has to do. He has a great working attitude, a real Terrier attitude, which is unusual for a striker, for a goalscorer.”

Mounie’s brace, alongside an own goal from Palace’s Joel Ward, ensured a scarcely believable start to Huddersfield’s life in the Premier League and prompted chants of “We are top of the league” from their delirious supporters.

“I know we have a real chance to stay up,” said Wagner. “I knew this before this game. As a sportsman, a footballer, you only like to have a chance, and we have a chance. What we will do out of our chance is up to us, and nobody knows.”

For every Huddersfield fan who dares to dream, there will be a ­Palace fan cursing this nightmare start. Frank de Boer, the new ­manager, who blamed a chaotic 15-minute spell in the first half for changing the game, clearly has work to do.

“It is a very big lesson for us,” he said. “Before, we analysed the ­opponent so when they do certain things we have to have an answer on that, and we had the wrong ­answer in those 15 minutes. That is football. It’s hard. You have to learn from this kind of thing. There are still 37 games left.”

De Boer’s arrival was supposed to herald a new era of attractive, passing football. But within 40 minutes, nervousness was coursing through Selhurst Park as the Palace defenders became increasingly shaky in possession. At one point, there were even ironic cheers when goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey punted an aimless hoof downfield. “You have to recognise when you have to play it on the ground and when you don’t,” said De Boer. “In those 15 minutes, everybody saw, we played it on the ground and they pressed us. It is a very expensive lesson.”